LOS ANGELES — Chip Kelly’s offenses are known for blazing speed, but when it comes to finding the first starting quarterback of his UCLA tenure, the first-year head coach prefers to slow things down.

“They’re all trying to learn right now, every day is a real learning experience,” Kelly said. “We’re adding something on a daily basis, kind of a real layering approach.”

Kelly is deliberately installing his offense this spring, beginning with simple screen passes during the first week and ramping up to the triple-option and zone-read looks the team debuted Saturday to finish the third week of spring camp.

It’s the fourth time in as many years that the Bruins will use a new offense, the previous three times coming during a rotating door of offensive coordinators under former head coach Jim Mora.

Third-year sophomore Devon Modster said he’s digesting the new playbook by referring to old concepts and translating the different terminology. The Tesoro High alum backed up Josh Rosen last year and has taken all reps with the starting offense this spring.

“He’s picking things up,” Kelly said of Modster. “He’s a smart kid, he’s intelligent, he’s got a good base, so he was obviously coached very well before we got here; he’s got a good knowledge of coverages.”

Third-year sophomore Matt Lynch and redshirt freshman Austin Burton split backup reps in practice, but not even all of UCLA’s quarterback contenders have arrived. Incoming freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson won’t join the team until June, bucking a recent trend of top quarterback prospects enrolling early.

The Bruins have had a new freshman quarterback in spring practice in each of the past three years, a streak that started with Rosen, who used the early start to become the first true freshman quarterback in UCLA history to start a season opener.

Thompson-Robinson could become the second if he hits the ground running when he arrives this summer. He seems like an ideal fit for Kelly’s system that has produced similar dual-threat stars like Marcus Mariota and Dennis Dixon, but the coach isn’t in a rush to get the four-star prospect on the field. He isn’t even concerned with checking in with Thompson-Robinson about the playbook.

“Really my message to any of those kids is go enjoy being a kid in high school,” Kelly said. “I think this whole process of trying — they’re all worried about (getting to college) — you only get to be a high school senior once, so enjoy your last couple of months here, make sure you finish up strong academically and then we’ll see him and the rest of the guys that will enroll, they’ll be here for class on the 25th (of June).”

Take it easy

Theo Howard didn’t feel tired. His GPS monitor said otherwise.

Kelly’s wide-reaching sports science program has players wearing GPS monitors during practice that track their activity. The training staff monitors each player’s work load and if someone is overexterting himself, they’ll ask the player to sit out for the next drill or the rest of practice.

“I never really had that before,” said Howard, who was told to slow down during a practice last month. “But it’s just something they’re trying to keep track of the players and make sure they don’t do too much because it’s a long spring and we’re trying to save our legs.”

The junior receiver said he was “just trying to go full speed.” He put up resistance to the idea of taking some plays off at first.

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.